Well this was a different kind of novel, for me, not the genre I normally choose. The basic premise is that of a student - professor romance. And immediately my mind went to The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. Of course there were similarities but in other ways it was vastly different.
I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more when I was a student. It’s been a few years now since I was at uni so it took me a bit longer to get my head back into that world, but I have to say it was well constructed in this book. Particularly when Anna is packing up and leaving her uni accommodation on her final day, it certainly rang true. One of the obstacles my mind had was that this was an American university experience and I only have knowledge of my British uni. I spent quite a bit of time making comparisons between the two but this was actually quite enjoyable
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So anyway back to the romance aspect of this book. Because it is this that drives the story forward. Firstly I should say that this book has some fairly explicit scenes in it. I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to this so I didn’t enjoy them. And I don’t think the story would have lost anything by losing these.
When the romance starts to unfold you can’t get away from tension of how this all might go wrong. Or at least that’s how I felt. But you do get sucked into this story no matter how you feel about what is going on between Anna and her professor and also between Anna and her friend Justin. Her professor was not my favourite character. I think what he tries to do in the end is good, but I also think that it wasn’t fair of him to do that after what he started.
What surprised me is how it turned out. I hadn’t anticipated how the story ended as a possible outcome. This would be a spoiler so I’m not going to tell you, but I think it worked as an ending, so it was a pleasant surprise. And I like not being able to guess how things will turn out.
However, for me the strength of this book was in the second half. Anna heads off for two weeks in France, starting in Paris. What made it so good was the way I was completely transported to Paris or any of the other locations that she visits. As she is staying with a friend who lives in Paris we get an opportunity to explore more than just the obvious tourist spots. And this made for a really refreshing description. I loved this part of the book and was very sorry when it came to an end. If ever writes travel books I wouldn’t hesitate to read them.
What was also interesting is her French friend’s take on romance. Although I’m not unaware of French culture it was nicely juxtaposed with the main characters thoughts and feelings.
So yes I was out of my comfort zone with this one but ultimately enjoyed exploring two different cultures to my own in one book.
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